There is described in my earlier U.S. Pat. No. 4,298,138 a tandem column vendor apparatus in which a rotary cradle extends from front to back of a compartment for holding columns of articles to be dispensed. The cradle is of generally semicylindrical hollow shape having a straight axial leading edge and a stepped trailing edge and mounted to be rotated about its cylinder axis. The cradle is free of internal partitions and is adapted for sequentially dispensing front and then rear articles from front and rear columns of articles in the compartment, or for dispensing single longer articles. A removable support in the cradle holds long narrow articles at the proper height for supporting a column of those articles in the compartment at the proper elevation for the straight leading edge of the cradle to isolate and support the column while dispensing an article in the cradle.
The tandem column vendor apparatus of my aforementioned earlier patent employs a single semicylindrical cradle mounted for rotation below either a single column or front and rear columns of different articles to be dispensed. The cradle is free of partitions, so that it can receive either a pair of shorter cylindrical articles, such as cans of beverage or a single longer article such as a bottle of beverage. When adapted to dispense articles from front and rear columns, the cradle is rotated through a part revolution at which time the leading edge at the front of the cradle becomes spaced from a sidewall a distance at least equal to the diameter of its article, and that article may drop to a dispensing station. Upon the next actuation, the cradle is rotated further to bring the corresponding edge of the rear part of the cradle to a sufficiently spaced relation from the compartment sidewall to let the rear article drop to the delivery station. The leading edge of the cradle enters between those articles in the cradle and the columns thereabove to support the articles in the columns above the cradle during the dispensing cycles.
An attachment is provided to be placed in the cradle to hold articles of smaller diameter, but greater length, such as bottles, at a proper height to support the column thereabove at such elevation that the leading edge of the cradle will enter between the article in the cradle and the articles thereabove to support the latter without having to unduly lift the weight of the column during rotation of the cradle. When employed to dispense bottles, as will be described, the motor or driving mechanism is so adapted that it rotates the cradle one complete revolution from each cycle of operation, whereas when dispensing cans sequentially from front and rear columns, the motor operates through only a partial rotation of the cradle after dispensing the front article and before delivering the article from the rear column.
It may be noted that as the cradle of this earlier patent rotates, it reaches a point (illustrated in FIG. 6 of that patent), where the foremost of the two cradled articles (e.g. beverage cans) will be dispensed, but the rearmost of the two will remain cradled.
While the vendor disclosed and claimed in my aforementioned earlier patent has proved to be commercially acceptable, I have learned that the vendor structure as disclosed in that patent has a shortcoming, and so I have devised a way of improving that vendor, and ones like it, by providing a relatively simple means for overcoming the shortcoming.
In particular, when the cradle of the vendor shown in my aforementioned U.S. patent is in its FIG. 6 disposition, and the contained foremost article has been vended from the cradle, it is possible for a vandal to victimize the vendor's owner by tilting the vendor forwardly or rocking it back and forth, or by reaching it through the delivery station of the vendor, hooking onto the rearmost cradled article with a bent coathanger or similar tool, and in any one or a combination of these ways, causing the rearmost cradled article to slide forwards in the cradle to the former site of the most recently dispensed formerly foremost cradled article. At this point, the slid-forwards article will drop from the cradle to the delivery station and be stolen.